Smoked Eel Salad - Grant Allen

"All cooks face the challenge of providing food that covers off restricted diets, for caterers this can be a bit of a nightmare. Inevitably there will be gluten free, dairy free or coeliac guests, vegetarians and vegans abound and that back up packet of rice crackers won’t really cut it if you are trying to present something interesting.These days I try to keep most of my offers “universal “ to avoid having to create specific treats for particular diets or having the host embarrassed about the lack of choice for all guests.As many canapés are bread based , it was a lucky find to come across The Larder Project at the night market .The bread is tasty, textured and easy to cook and cut - it doesn’t crumble apart and thats most important for small bases .I baked the loaf in a cake tin, I wanted a thin finger cut to serve with the eel in place of putting it on a crostini or cracker."